MMA Fighting - HOAM | Why Colby Covington vs. Khamzat Chimaev Is Absolutely the Fight To Make

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

Khamzat Chimaev is still making headlines after his massive weight miss, and dominant win over Kevin Holland at UFC 279. When Colby Covington is ready to return, and should Chimaev want to prove he can be a welterweight, the UFC should absolutely book that fight for a number of reasons. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, it's a Free-For-All Friday with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck who discusses why that should be the direction for both Covington and Chimaev, the stakes involved, and where it would make sense on the calendar should the bout be possible before the end of the year. Additionally, listener questions include Bryce Mitchell vs. Movsar Evloev being booked for Nov. 5, Tony Ferguson's future following his submission loss to Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 279, A.J. McKee's future, Marlon Moraes heading to the PFL, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian

in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine,

available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Friday, September 16th, 2020, and as always, it is a heck of a morning, live on the NBA fighting Twitter spaces. You could hear the show in its entirety. shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining us.

I'm very excited. We didn't really get to do it last week because of so much going on with UFC 279 and backstage press conference fights and weigh in preparations for a card that did not look the same. hours later as it did when we talked last Friday. But Friday shows are the best because it is free for all Friday, which means we can talk about MMA, we can talk about the MMA media space, we could talk about certain fights. There is no real plan here.

We just throw all the rules out the window and, excuse me, Al just are killing me today. So bear with me. So we just throw the rulebook out the window and we just tag you guys, in you guys ask questions I will respond in kind and that's it so I'm not going to waste any time let's get right into this thing and we'll start with

Abzwalia to get us started on this free for all Friday hello sir how you doing yeah so I've got three questions I want to ask you I'll keep it very quick how do you see Sean Strickland and Jared Kennedy playing out and what's the

possible outcome for either fighter who wins. I'm also just just one touch on Bilal versus Sean. I think if Bilal wins that far, I think it shows he's a very legit contender because he's fighting someone who's a rising star in the division. And if Sean Brady wins

it shows that he's also got potential in the Walterway. And the third one I have is how do you see the Bryce Mitchell fight playing now? That's all I have. Thank you, man. Thanks, man. So, excuse me, golly. So three interesting fights. One of them will start with the Sean Strickland-Jarred Cannon Air One going down December 17th. It's targeted as the main event. It's, from what I hear, it's not like 100% locked and loaded to be the main event for that card. But it's trending in the right direction. It's definitely happening on that card. It's just a matter of whether or not it's going to be fine.

rounds or not and that could actually make this fight a little more interesting if it is five rounds because canaanaires just such a powerhouse he's very well conditioned obviously but strickland can just go out and throw that volume all day long so all right hopefully that's the last time i've to clear my throat i leaned strickland's just because of the volume and from a stylistic perspective, but he's also coming off of a really nasty knockout loss to Alex Pereira, and Jared Canaanir can freaking crack. So it just depends on how Sean approaches the fight, because I talked to Eric Nixick a couple of weeks ago before UFC 279, we talked about that fight in particular, because a lot of people are like, who the hell is this guy's coaches?

How would they allow him to have such a game plan? And Eric was like, you know, you. Yeah, the gameplay was to go in and wrestle this dude. And Sean was like, nah, I'm just going to go and get into space for a little while. And when Sean first mentioned it probably on Wednesday before the fight, he said, I'm just going to stand with him for like a minute. And then as the week progressed, it was like, it's going to be two minutes. And then it turned into, well, I'm going to do it for like half the round. And by that point, the fight had gone in a really bad direction.

So Eric was even telling me that there are people in the gym They're like, I'm going to bet on Sean He's going to wrestle, right? It's like, well, that's the game plan to wrestle It's just a matter of whether or not he executes it Shaw went in there and tried to stand with Alex Pereira And he got knocked out So we'll see. I assume

The team over at Extreme Couture And Eric Nixick in particular are going to make sure That whatever game plan they have set up That they're going to follow through with it And if they do, I will lean Sean Strickland but Jared's a good fighter. He's real good, and it's a close fight. So I'll lean Sean, especially if it's a five-rounder,

if it's three-rounder, if it ends up being like a co-made event, three-rounder or something, maybe I'll look into it a little bit more, but I'm going to act as if this is undoubtedly the main event, and in that case I'll go with Sean to weather any major storm. I think the wrestling, Jared could wrestle too, but I think Sean wrestles it a different way to wear his opponents out if he needs to do it.

But for the most part, I see this fight being on the feet, most of all. And I think the volume can just kind of annoy Canaan Air for a bit. And I think he could win, but it's a really close fight. No doubt about that. Brady Balal, another really interesting fight. Bilal is definitely the better striker. There is just no ifs, or butts about that. And I think Sean will probably tell you the same thing.

Sean has more power on the feet than Bilal Muhammad has. Bilal is the better, more technical striker, the better volume striker. He puts on a hell of a pace. And we saw in Sean Brady's last fight against Michael Kiesa, he gassed out a little bit in that third round, and the tides turned into Michael Kiesa's favor. And if that was a five-round fight, Kiyessa, this is a very good chance he would have gone out and finished Sean Brady. It's a three-rounder.

I think Sean has learned his lessons. He's taken some time off. He had to deal with the nose and had some surgery, and he's breathing a lot better. So this is probably the best that he's actually been able to breathe through his nose in a very, very long time, probably the entirety of his UFC career. But this fight's got to get to the ground at some point.

And Sean is a monster. He is way bigger than Bilal Muhammad. He's way more physical than Bilal Muhammad. But Balal is a very intelligent fighter. Another really tough one to call. I mean, I'm going to go, Sean Brady. I could see this one going very similar to the Kiesa fight where Brady wins the first two rounds. Has to work a lot to try to retain advantageous positions.

And then Bilal just really picking up in the third and things can get really dice. But I love that fight. And then as we confirmed yesterday, Mavzar of Voya versus Bryce Mitchell. Good God. That's a great fight. fifth. I'm kind of shocked that they're matching these two guys up right now, but at this point, I mean, there's really nothing else you could do here. So I love the matchup. It's a, I mean, this is, this is a dog-eat-dog fight. Two of the best up-and-comers in this division.

Eileen of Loew in this one. I mean, Bryce is just such an animal with his grappling and his top control and just his offensive grappling in particular, but Mozar is just, just, great everywhere. Bryce, I mean, you could see, you saw in the Edson Barboza fight that Bryce ain't afraid to get in there and scrap with anybody. Even Edson Barbosa, he'll trade hands with him, but he didn't need it. And he just ran him over. So I think I'm going to lead a Vloyav because I think he's got more tools in the toolbox.

But if Bryce can start chaining together takedowns and having success early, it's got to be a tough one for Mobzar. There's no doubt about it. But I lean Mobsar. but that fight absolutely rules and I can't wait for November 5th. So back-to-back weeks, we get two very big featherweight fights in the UFC.

We got the Calvin Cater on Lallon Main Event October 29th and then the following Saturday we get Bryce Mitchell, Mavsar of Loya. A fight, by the way, I would like to see you for five rounds. I don't know if it's going to happen but I know both sides are open

to it being a five-round fight. If for some reason, I mean, let me just look this up real quick. I want to make sure, where are we? Arnold down. So I want to go and just look at the card right now because I'm not fully sure what it looks like right now. But let me see.

Bear with me for one moment. I should have been more prepared for this because I knew this question was going to be asked. There is no main event. Oh, no. Yeah, there is no main event right now. If they bumped that to the main event, I have no issue with the whatsoever.

I don't Maria Rodriguez, Amanda Lamos is on this card, but no disrespect to them. Bryce Mitchell-Bavzar of Loyav is definitely the main events between those two fights. But they might be working on something else. So who knows?

But if that gets bumped to the main event, I would have no issue with that whatsoever. Let's go to Chase. Chase, hello. Are you there? I'm getting nothing from you, Chase. Jump back in. I'll get you up.

Let's go to Tony Yale. Tony, you're there. Oh, there we go. I hear you. Are you there? You're there for a second. Same with you, Tony. Just jump back in and hopefully can get you connected.

Let's go to Average Avenue's 11. Hello, sir. What's up? I got you. Okay. I've got a simple one for you. Can you explain to me how somehow in this God, in God's green earth,

Colby Covington and Robert Whitaker aren't on the pound for pound list, the UFC pound for pound list. It makes no goddamn sense. All right. Have a good day, man. Cheers. That is a great question. But just understand that those rankings are just simply rankings. The only rankings that matter, of course, are the MMA fighting global rankings.

And I believe both of those gentlemen are in our pound for pound rankings, as they should be. Robert Whitaker is tied for ninth. Oh, Colby's not up there. Yeah, Colby's not up there. I'm kind of surprised. But it's all right. He's on my personal list. Robert Whitaker tied for ninth.

You can make a compelling case that he should be higher than that. Max Hall, like at our list, we have, it's Volcanovsky. I've had Volcanovsky up there for a while, even before Usman got knocked out. Adisania, number two. You can make a really strong case for Adasanya right now. Oliver's three. Leon Edwards 4 and Ganu 5. Usman 6.

Sterling 7. Max Holloway is 8. I would have, I know for a fact, I had Robert Whitaker and Colby ranked in my personal rankings above Max Holloway. Max is a good fighter, but he's lost three out of his last four. And he got, and Max is great, but he got styled on by Volcanowski. that was one-way traffic. That was one of the all-time start-to-finish best title defenses I've ever seen from Volkovsky.

So, yeah, both those guys should be on the pound playlist. Whitaker especially. Colby should be up there too, in my personal opinion. I know he's on my rankings, but the problem with Colby, and I understand why there's hesitancy with Colby, because, yes, Colby has won a lot of fights. Colby has beat some very big names. Colby was very competitive, not once but twice,

with Kamar Usman. And in the second fight, there are a lot of people who thought Colby beat Kamar Usman the second fight. I did not think so. I thought if this fight, if they added two more rounds to it, Colby would be the champion right now. The momentum was clearly in his favor.

I thought Usman won the first half of the fight. and probably one did enough to win the third round and Colby clearly won rounds four and five and you can make a case for the third round as well. So yeah, I get it. But the problem with Colby is that his resume overall, I mean, the wins and losses is great, but he hasn't beat like a top five relevant guy

in a long time. Like he beat Robbie Lawler. RDA is probably, RDA is probably his best win. It might not be his most significant win and his biggest win overall in terms of fanfare and how many people watched it and everything.

But the win over RDA is probably his best, the best win of his career. It became the interim champion, won the fight. A lot of people thought he was going to lose and he went in there and won. And since then, I mean, who has he beat? I get it. Like, I mean, he, he mollywaps Robbie Lawler.

That fight was a absolute blowout from Colby Covington. And he barely, and he barely wrestled. He just struck the whole time. He blew Robbie Lawler out of the water. Now, this is before Robbie really started to fade, but Robbie was kind of fading at that point. But then we go from there. He loses to Usman.

Then he fights Tyron Woodley, which is a very big deal. but it was just too late. And I think, by the way, had they fought when Woodley was the champion, I would have picked Colby to win that fight, and I think the fight would have gone very similar to the fight you actually saw with a little less hesitancy from Woodley.

And then he goes in fights Oosven again and close fight, but then he fights Jorge Mazadol, who isn't even in our rankings right now. And this is not an indictment on Jorge Mazdal. He's one of the biggest stars of the sport, but Osadol's not a top, he's just not a top five, top 10 welterweight right now. He just isn't.

So that's why this Hamzot fight makes all the sense of the world. It makes all the sense of the world. Because Colby, and I don't blame Colby for how this is all played out. He's doing what you're supposed to do as a prize fighter. You take the biggest names with the lowest risk for the most amount of money. And that is what this man has done. Now, a lot of other people who are like, well, he beat Mazadol. It's not a big deal.

Let's just throw this out there as well just to play devil's advocate. A lot of people had an issue with that booking. But let's not forget, this is not the original plan. This is not the original plan for that card. They weren't going to do Colby versus Mosadol. They had two title fights booked, and then they shifted things around, and they had no main event. So they called Colby and they called Mosidol. They gave them what they wanted.

and they headlined a pay-per-view because they had no other option. So I don't blame Covington for this. This is not like Covington's idea. Oh, let's do this in a main event fight. This is the UFC saying, hey, we need a main event and we need one now. Can you do it? And they both said yes. And it was a big fight and Colby won it.

So I don't blame him for the road he has taken because if the name of the game is prize fighting, Colby has done that very, very well. but at this point there are no real prizes left for him at 170 pounds yeah you can fight porre but that's like that's a good fight and porre is a name but

are you confident that putting Colby versus Porreier as a pay-per-re main event is going to do 500,000 paper you guys? I don't I don't maybe the fight week build will get interesting because it's personal between those guys but I just don't think

like I think Colby I think Colby wins that fight easily. He just has to avoid getting K-Oed in the first seven minutes of the fight. But I think Colby would just... I think Colby would just take him down and just gas out Dustin Poria and win. Like, I have very little interest in seeing that fight.

Colby versus Shemaiah is by far the biggest fight he can get right now. And that includes Leon Edwards, by the way. Leon, getting a shot at the belt would be a very cool thing. It's a big deal. but more eyeballs for sure. If you told me that a pay-per-view is being headlined by Leon Oeders versus Colby Covington

or you have another pay-per-view headline by Colby Covington versus Hamzaa-Shimaev, which one is going to do better? It's Colby versus Shamiyav and it's not even close. And Colby's smart enough to know that if we're playing a game where let's make the most amount of money, that's the fight. That's the fight. The stakes are as high as they can be because he has two losses to Kamar Usman. And if for some reason Uspin beats Leon Edwards and gets that title back,

and Colby goes in and beats Hamzat Shamaa, the killer of all killers, Colby's fighting Uspin a third time. There is no, they're not running it back with Leon. They're not doing anything else. They're going to do Ousman versus Colby three. And if Leon wins, they're going to do Colby versus Leon. But that is the most high stakes, biggest money fight Colby can get right now. And honestly, it's a fight Colby can actually win.

A lot of people are counting him out. I think Colby can win. I wouldn't pick him, but I think Colby is a chance. This fight gets extended. Colby has a chance to win that fight. So anyone who thinks he's just going to get run over? Yeah, there's a chance that Hamzot just manhandles him like he does everybody else. But Colby is very durable.

He's very defensively sound. He's a survivor. he gets in bad spots and is overcome. And if that fight gets extended, Colby can definitely win. So, like, for all the people who said, there's no way Colby takes that fight, I think he would take it.

I think he would take it. And I'm curious to see if that's the fight the UFC goes with. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo. Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casings. games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won!

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What's up, Mike? Can you hear me? Yes. How are you doing, sir? Oh, I'm doing good. How are you, bro? Good, my man. I have got a question for you about the Bryce Mitchell and Evloiat fight.

It just got announced yesterday. So you talked about it a little bit earlier, but I just want to know, like, what do you think happens to, excuse me what do you think happens to the winner of this fight like do you think that they do they just shoot them up against like a josh emitt or a brian ortega or do you think maybe they get like like arnold allen or uh calvin cater the winner loser that fight uh just what do you think happens to uh to the winner of the obloy of and bryce mitchell fight it's a great question that's a bet that's a big one i mean they can could do, they could certainly do like a little midi

Grand Prix here. It just, just matched the winners up. Because the UFC wants to do Josh Shemid versus Jayaeur Rodriguez. But Yayae has come out and said, let's be honest, Yayaeur Rodriguez things. I'm not fighting anybody unless it's for the belt. And then he's even said, like, I'm not fighting anybody unless it's Alexander Volkadovsky. And he's willing to wait as long as it takes. Now, as we know, as fans of the sport, that is obviously a terrible idea. And the UFC and Yaya Rodriguez, they have had issues in the past on similar things.

So the stakes are really high for both of these fights. And to also put it in perspective, these are all fresh matchups for Volcanovsky. All of them. Now, Volcanovsky decides to make the move to 155 and they do an interim title fight. and Yair doesn't want to do it, the winner of Cater Allen certainly would have an argument for that. And the winner of this fight

would certainly have an argument for that. Both these guys are just real good. And, God, it's, I mean, they're going up. There's no doubt about it. They're fighting somebody in the top six. Ortega's interesting because I just don't know, I just don't know where he's at physically right now after what happened in the Yairir fight.

You have to think if the UFC goes back to London twice, they're going to give Arnold a very big fight on that card if he beats Calvin Kater. Yair is there, but if Yair's not going to fight Josh Emmett for the interim title, then he's probably not going to fight Mavzor of Loya for no title. So who knows? Maybe Max Holloway is in play here.

Maybe Max Holloway is in play. Maybe Max will watch these two fights. and feel like this one gets him going. Like if Arnold Allen beats Cater, maybe he's like, you know it would be fun, me and Arnold Allen getting in there and chucking hands at each other. And Max has that power. If Max wants to fight Arnold Allen off of a win, he'll get it.

So, yeah, the stakes are very high. It's hard to pinpoint names at this point, but they're getting big fights. Whoever wins that fight is getting a big name. So maybe Cater Al. I think if Cater wins, they're going to match the two winners up for sure. Let's go to

Ryan. Hi, Mike. Sorry about that. My mic was off for a second. How are you doing today? I'm good. How are you? Thanks. I wanted to switch it up and talk a little bit of PFL involved with the UFC. So seeing Marlon and Marais go to the PFL was actually pretty sweet. I think, I know his chin's kind of going, but I think he'll be safe enough in the PFL. There's a ton of wrestlers at 45.

So I'm not too worried about him on that part, but kind of brought up an interesting point. I feel like the UFC is now obviously such a popular company where the 1 through 15 is much different than the 1 through 15. Or I should say 1 through 30 is much different than 1 through 30 in divisions than like 10 years ago. So do you think this is like the best way for those like mid 30 year old guys? Maybe they got their title shot already. They kind of left. They still have gas in the tank like a couple of years like a Santos. But they're just not, they're kind of just fighting the up-and-comers.

So that kind of a better option you think than being a gate? keeper in the UFC. Do you think that's going to be like a more prevalent option going forward? Thanks, Mike. It's a great question and the answer is yes. The answer is yes. If you are any guy that has one fight left on his deal that is flirting in somewhere in the top 10 or behind, you have to look at the PFL as an actual option because let's be clear. And the PFL people can say whatever they want because Bellator says this all the time. They all do it. And they should do it because that's what you're supposed to do as a promoter. But to say that your division is better than the UFC's division is just dumb and it's wrong,

but it's still good and it's still relevant. And at the same token, you can make some money there. Now, it all depends on how much money you can make because we've heard fighters saying that they're making life-changing money with the PFL. And we've heard fighters say that they've made less money for play. playoff fights that they did for regular season fights in big spots. So the PFL business model is interesting. They're starting to get a little bit of buzz right now.

But if you are, like if you're Apollo Costa right now, you are not signing an extension. You are not signing a new deal. You are betting on yourself. You fight whoever they tell you to fight. And then you do the damn thing. And then you go and march your happy ass over. to the PFL because the opportunities there are better.

The PFL is probably going to pay him more per fight and you have a chance to win a million dollars and Paul Costa could compete at 185 or 205 and do just fine over there. So if you are a fringe UFC fighter at this point, if you're a fringe top 20 top 25 guy and you feel like you're not going to be fighting for a title anytime soon and your contract is running up,

the PFL has to be a vital option. 100%. do I believe like do I buy into everything the PFL's saying and doing no but if you have the chance to make a bunch of money and then end the season winning another million dollars I think you have to look at it I think you have to look at it let's go to Derrico Hey Mike just a quick one Sure do you think that the winner of this weekend's main event draws into Oh, Derek, are you still there? Unmute, unmute. I got like half the question.

There we go. I got half the question, then you got cut off. Sorry, Mike. I just got a call. Do you think that the winner of this main event draws into Cheeto Vera? Hmm. No, I don't. No, Cheetos, I mean, look, this fight has stakes, but I'm,

Cheeto right now, to me, is the front runner to fight for the belt. To fight the winner of Algey-Dirling versus T.C. Dillish. now that could all change before that title fight happens when peyodor yon fights shan o'malley because if shon o'malley beats peyodor yon he's fighting for the title there's i mean there's just no other way around it shot o'malley's fighting for the belt if he wins on october 22nd but if he doesn't win and peyoteur yon wins they're going to do vera versus yon or they're going to just give vera the title shot and in my eyes vera deserves the freaking title shot unless john o'amalley wins so I don't think the stakes are that high. It's hard to give that to Sanhagen when he's lost two straight. Granted, the level of competition is tremendous, losing to Tiji Adelausha. In a fight, which, by the way, 90% of people thought Sandhagen won.

And then losing to Jan and just a really competitive fight, one of the better fights that doesn't get enough credit from last year. two and five in his last two and three in his last five i mean it's tough man it's it's it's tough but san haggen we all we all are very aware of how talented this guy is and what his ceiling could be and songy dong is 24 he's going to turn 25 in december this guy's career is just getting started he's only going to get better i think this i think honestly i think a fight like rob font kind of waits for the winner i think that's fine. Like, that's still a relevant fight. Fon's coming off of a couple

loss himself, but again, he's lost to Jose Aldo and he lost to Marlon Vera in fights that Rob actually performed very well in. He just got caught in multiple rounds. Like, go look in the stats of those two fights, and if you did actually see them and actually watch the fights for what they were, you would think, just by looking at the numbers, that Rob Font beat the hell out of both of those guys. but he just got caught that chin didn't hold up and he took some punishment

but I think that's Rob Font versus Song Yidong or Rob Font versus Corey Sandhagen sounds pretty damn fun to me and by the way let me just clear something else up I know I've mentioned on the show multiple times

so I'll go ahead and mention it again any talk about Rob Font versus Adrian Yannas is not true they're not fighting I mean not saying they'll never fight but they're not fighting now. I saw some reports that they're fighting at Madison Square Garden. That's not true.

That's not true. Rob's not fighting until March at the earliest. They're giving him time off. He had two tough fights against Jose Alba and Marlon Vera. He's not fighting. Don't believe those reports. He's not fighting until March at the earliest. He's healing up.

He's got a really good team behind him. That's going to make sure he doesn't make the wrong choice to come back to quickly, especially against a guy like Adrianian, it's like, what does Rob Font have to gain by coming back early and fighting Adrianianianas? He has nothing to gain there. Nothing. All you're doing is just slowing down. You're a very compelling prospect, not taking anything away from Adrianianis, but to go from Josealdo to Marlon Vera to Adrianiannaz makes no sense for Rob to Rob, for Rob Fon. If Rob Fon had beat Joseoaldo, you can make a strong case

he's getting a title shot so I just don't believe that it's not happening we won't see Rob Font until earliest first quarter of 2023 and like the end of the first quarter so don't believe any of that let's go to Beale

he's been waiting for a while Beal hello Hey Mike what's up what's up man so speaking of the Adrian Yanez and Rob Foncing, who do you think, if that fight doesn't get made, who do you think Adrian should fight next? I think he's got a pretty high feeling, but yeah, I feel like Rob Fon is a big step-up in

competition, and, yeah, I don't know if he's ready for that. Also, the episode of BTL yesterday was fucking fantastic. the whole discourse about Comzot being the number one welterweight was just great and I totally understood both sides of what Sean L was saying and what Jed was saying but yeah

anyway have a heck of a weekend like thank you sir yes BTL was great who should Yannes fight that is a great listen I'm just saying it again it's right there it's right there for us all do Adrian Yon, if you want to put Adrian Yonaz in with a veteran, if you want to put him in with a guy that has a name

that could help propel him in some way, I know this will make some people sad, but I've been saying for a while since the Tony Kelly fight, it doesn't seem like Cody Garbrand's fighting Ronnie Yaya anytime soon. Just book Adrian Yatt versus Cody Garbrand. We tried. Listen, we tried to give Cody a guy that doesn't have any knockouts.

We've tried, but it's just not happening. We're dealing with like neck injuries and things like that. You can't go back to the well. So just book that one. Do that at MSG. That is fine. Like, I'm cool with that. That might be a step up for Giannis too,

but it's a step up that actually makes sense. It's a step up that makes sense. Cody has a lot more to fight for. right now than Rob Font does. Cody's got to win. Cody has to win his next fight. And skill for skill, Cody can beat Adrianianas. But Adrian can crack two. And we know how Cody can be if he gets into firefight exchanges. Sometimes it gets a little emotional and you don't want to do that against the guy like Adrianiananas. But now you have it. Cody needs an opponent. I'm not saying do it October 1st. Just push it back. Push it back a month. Do that fight at MSG.

You think Cody's going to say no to that? Hey, we'll bump you from the apex in like a early main card fight that no one's going to watch during college football season. Or we could put you at Madison Square freaking garden to fight Adrian Yanez. What's he going to do? Say no. You got to do that. I love that idea.

That's what I would do. But we'll see. Let's go to Tristan. Hey, Mike. What's that, buddy? Two things I want to ask you. So we have November 12th at MSG, Dan Hooker versus Claudia Poeyes. And where are we at with Dan Hooker at this point?

You're going to be fighting a very dangerous fighter. I know you're very high on him on Claudia Puarez. I know you've been raving about him a lot, and he's been just absolutely heel-hooking everyone. So, I mean, Hooker has, I think Hooker probably's only chances, by any means necessary, keep this on the feet. Because, you know, players are not that great when it's striking. He's okay, I guess, but everybody knows his grapple is what gets his wins. So just your thoughts on that, I mean, because I don't know, if Hooker loses another one in devastating fashion, I mean, I don't, I'm not going to say it, but I could hear.

people saying he might be washed after that fight. So we'll see. But I just want your thoughts and your assessments of where hookers at this point of his career. And then another fight that is very interesting is Jack Shore versus Kyla Phillips. Right now, Jack Shore is now getting the test. He's passed the first test because he goes to Ricky Simone

and got knocked out. This is another test that he's got to show that he's worth being top 15 here because Kylea Phillips is no freaking joke, man. He's no freaking joke. So I just want your thoughts on that fight between Carl and Jack Shore. I mean, again, we've got to see if Jack Shore

could pass the test because Kyle Phillips is a gamer. So just your thoughts on that. And thanks for everything. Have a heck of a morning, Mike. Thanks, man. So this is a good news, bad news type of question. I'll start with the good news side of it. It's a big fight for Dan Hooker.

It's a winnable fight for Dan Hooker. It's a fight he has to win. Now, I think he's in good favor with the UFC. People like Dan Hooker. He puts on exciting fights. He's never in a boring one. So I don't think like his job is in jeopardy or anything. But yeah, his best path to victory is to keep this fight on the feed.

But 15 minutes of a guy like Claudio play is, it's going to hit the mat at some point. So it's just a matter of can he survive the trickery and the prequiry? and the prowess on the mat of a guy like Claudio Claudio Plias who by the way is just flying under the radar. No one's talking about this guy. We're talking about this surge of

prospects at 155 pounds, guys that are just climbing the ranks that could be a problem. Claudio Puez is not getting mentioned in any of these conversations. So this is a big opportunity, this is perfect, this is A plus matchmaking right here.

This is perfect matchmaking. making. It is one half of the kings of matchmaking. I take my cap off to the UFC here. This is exactly what you need to do in this type of situation. Because it's a very win. It's a fight that Dan Hooker could win

and probably should. We're just looking at the stature of him and looking where he's at in his career and where he's at in the UFC and how people view him. But Claudio could win and then finally people will start talking about him. So this is A plus, matchmaking. Now to the bad news.

I can't answer that question. Jack Shore, Kyler Phillips question, because the fight's not happening. Jack Shore is hurt. Serious knee injury. Let me pull up the statement here from Facebook, written by the great AK Lee, M.A.fighting.com. Unfortunately, I'm out of my upcoming fight due to a serious knee injury. Going to be sidelined for likely the rest of the year,

is this one is going to take a bit of time to get right. I'll go into more detail about the specifics on my next podcast to save the long post. Thank you for all your support. I'm not listening to his next podcast or even if he's released the next podcast. But November 19th, Kyler Phillips needs a new opponent.

So it will not be Jack Shore. So we'll see what happens. Let's go to my man Viking MMA, a.k.a. The Demi-God. What's up, Viking? Hello, I'm good. How are you?

I'm also good. How is that meeting with the teachers? It was good. It was good. Good stuff. Oh, all right. I just want to talk to you about, you know, where is everyone concerned about Tony Ferguson. So I am. It's kind of on to the next one thing. but as you were saying, McGregor is not in the mood cutting weight,

so what if he wants to continue in welterweets and we all know whatever he says. I mean, I'm decent, whatever. But he's not a modern day great anymore, the Khan of McGregor. There are so many extremely skilled, street fighters at the present.

So if he wants a tuna fight at Welterwood's Tony versus McGregor, it will be the best for the both of them guys, McGregor and Tony. But still, it depends on Charles versus Marketsy right. Tony versus McGregor,

what's your thought on that? And could you please just tell me why the freak Michael Chandler? is considering himself in the title short conversation. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, sir. So I'll address the first question because whether you like it or not, he is in the title conversation.

He is. He's in the title conversation because people like him and people will pay money to watch him fight because he's exciting. People like Michael Chandler. They like watching him fight and then he cuts promos afterwards. The dude is in play. Absolutely in play.

Because he's a fresh matchup for, especially if his own Mockachev wins, he's a fresh matcher for his own Mockachev. So it happens when you create interest and become a star. And that's Chandler has become a bit of a star in the UFC. So that's why he's in this discussion. If he goes out there and just bolts Dustin Porier, he's in the mix. There's no doubt about it. He was, people were talking about him being in the mix after he knocked out Tony Ferguson.

So, I mean, unfortunately for Chan, that that wind didn't age all that well because he went on and fought like pretty quickly right after and then he got submitted by Nate Diaz but at the time like people were saying like what are we going to do with the title and if they couldn't get Islam in in that spot or the UFC wasn't convinced it would not have shocked me at all to see them go back to Michael Chandler I know him and Oliver had just fought but it was a very good it was a close fight Michael Chandler was two punches away from winning the title. So he's definitely in the mix.

The Connor Ferguson thing, listen, it would not shock me in the slightest if that's the direction they go. Now, they could, there's so many, it's so hard to match me for Connor because you never know what they're going to do. Could they throw him in there with Olivera if he wins? I think there's a very good chance that that could happen

if Oliver beats Islam. As more of a favor to Charles, because Charles will destroy Conmer, Gregor, in my opinion. But if you're going to do what you did the last time and you want to throw Connor in with somebody with a name, but it's a very winnable fight, a guy who's going to sell the fight and create interest, Donald really didn't sell the fight. Neither did Connor, really, because they were like buddy, buddy.

I don't think it'll be that way between these two guys. I think there'll be a pretty hectic fight week. Some things said that we're just going to be like, oh, boy, did he really just say that? So it actually, like, in all honesty, might actually be the best way to go. I would just not want to see Tony potentially get knocked out again, but I don't know, man. I don't hate it. I don't hate it at all. And there's a shot that if the dominoes fall in a way where Connor can't get back at a title fight,

I would do, you could do Ferguson. I also love the Justin Gaci idea because that fight is just absolutely rules. all right he's been waiting he's been jumping in i was going to get to him but he keeps jumping in and jumping out ahead king ahead hello ahead oh no all this and you can't even come in what the hell ahead let's go to michael fantastic first name by the way michael are you there on mute oh oh there we go do we have you yeah yeah i just uh how are you doing anyways i'm too good how are you I, how does Piaon benefit from, if he loses, it seems like he goes way down the board. If he wins, Cheeto is probably still next.

So it just seems like a one-sided thing in the benefits category. That's it. Thanks, man. So you broke up for like the first half of the question, but I think where you were going with was how does the fight with Sean O'Malley benefit Piotr Yan in any way? A couple of reasons. One, Sean has all the hype right now. Sean is a must-watch guy at 135 pounds.

He just, he is, whether you like him or not, people are interested in seeing him fight. Now, unfortunately, the Pedro Munoz fight ended the way that it did. But I can tell you, during international fight week, I was asking people about which fight they were looking forward to the most. Volkovsky Holloway was probably getting 52%. The other 48 was Sean Amali Pedro Munoz. People want answers, and they want them from this guy. So considering where this division is at right now and who was booked and who wasn't at the time,

because when this fight was announced, we already had all these other big fights on the books. Some of them have already happened. some of them are still coming up. This is the best thing for Peter Rion. He gets, this is the prize fighting mentality. He gets the biggest name, stylistically probably in, in terms of experience, probably the lowest risk. It is, I'm not saying that in like a shot up Malley could never win this fight kind of way,

because I think he is a chance to win. But this is as good as it gets. You get a low-rank guy who a lot of people feel that you are, heavily favored to win in a guy with a ton of buzz right now. This is a good thing for Pieter Jan. This is the best thing that could have happened with the current landscape of this division. Now, if he wins and Aljo wins, there's two things that could happen. One, they could do Jan versus Marab.

There's some heat there. And obviously, if Jan beats Marab, he goes and fights for the belt. They could do Jan versus Cheeto. If Jan wins that, he goes and fights for the belt. But if T.J. Dillashaw beats Al Jemaine Sterling and Piero Yon beat Sean O'Malley, it would not stun me at all if they just gave Peter Yon the title shot. If they just went Yon versus Dillashaw. It wouldn't shock me.

There's a story there. You already have footage of Jan calling out Dillishaw, calling him a cheater and running his mouth about him. you have a story. So, I mean, again, wouldn't stun me. So while Sean certainly has more to gain here, I think there's plenty of Jan can gain from this. Now, he probably's going to need T.J. Dillard Shaw to win for him to gain a title shot off of this.

But if he beat Sean O'Malley, he's a win away from getting back to a title fight, whether it's Sterling or not. So, yeah, I, there's definitely stakes for Yon. definitely but Sean obviously being as low ranked as he is compared to Jan obviously has more to gain and Sean's definitely getting a title shot at the win so there are definitely stakes on the Yon side let's go to cryptocurrency and then we'll go to Jacob and then we'll get to the rest of y'all crypto what's up yes hi Mike can you hear me yes sir yeah sorry I'm outside so yeah the weather is

bit bad here in Sweden but Mike it's a free-for-all Friday and let's have some fun as always. So I see that AK is listening as well so I'm going to get butchered for this question but anyway so this is a hypothetical question Mike so let's say if for some reason Usman cannot fight against Leon Edwards at the beginning of next year or in March or whenever and the fight gets rebooked against Chimaev at a neutral ground so not. Not London, not the UK, not Sweden, not, I don't know, Abu Dhabi, let's just put it in Vegas for this example. And at the same time, Mike, for some reason, you are able to pick the winner of that fight, Shimaev versus Edwards. And if you pick the right winner, you are given $1 million.

So there are no repercussions for you. I'm sorry, there's thunderstorm here. So there are no repercussions for you if you do not pick the correct winner. But if you pick the right fighter in that scenario, you are given $1 million. So put away all your emotions and childish words as deserve and I think and ifs and buts. So who would you pick? And I want you to answer the same question. But if we would remove Chimaev, same question for Rachmanov and also for Kobe Covington.

$1 million if you pick the right fighter and just, yeah, give me a clear question, Mike. Don't answer around the question. Don't sound like a politician trying to decide how many genders there are. Just clear question. And that's all, Mike. Thank you. Thanks, man. So you added some caveats to it because the way you initially addressed the question,

this is going to be the easiest question of my life. And I mean this in no disrespect to Leon Edwards. but if you're giving me the opportunity to win a million dollars picking Hamzat Shama if in a fight, I'm taking Hamsat Shemai if it gets pretty much everybody. There's maybe one or two guys where I'd have to think about it, but I'm picking Hamsat against pretty much everybody right now. And I feel very confident in that. So especially like stylistically against Leon, he kills Leon Edwards.

I just don't see a world where Leon wins that fight. I just don't. So, yeah, and again, no disrespect, because I'm picking him against most people. So, yeah, it's Hamzot. Shafcott, I think stylistically, is a nightmare. And he, I would, I'd probably have to think about that a little more, but I probably would go at Shafcott. And I'd pick Colby to beat Leon as well. But not to say that Leon can't win either of those fights.

I just think Shemeyev trucks him. Shavkot's, maybe the lack of experience comes into play. especially we haven't seen him in a five rounds fight yet so i would have questions there and i think colby beats leon i think colby beats most guys the only ones i i if he fought oosman again i'm thinking about it i'm thinking about it that's why i want to see those two guys fight again but yeah i would pick against john probably in all three of those but i'm not saying leon would couldn't win, but I would feel pretty confident picking Shamiyev, that's for sure. All right, ahead. Don't let me down, dude.

Yes. But, like, anyway, so, Mike, I've got some new points for today just to wrap up on yesterday. I didn't say Leon Usman wasn't going to be a big fight. I just don't think people, for the reasons you said, Mike, everyone knows. Leon's going to lose to all the wrestlers. Everyone knows this. It's not like Leon, it wasn't a flute, but Leon will be able to reproduce it.

And Uzman has no personality. None, Mike. He couldn't sell water to a dying Arab in the desert, let alone a fight. He has no personality. But, and with regards to Hamza, Hamza would have lost against Gilbert Burns if there was around four or five, Mike.

But in terms of prospects, forget Hamza. What about this guy fighting in the weekend? Chidi, bang, bang, and Jo Kowani. This guy is a beast and he's experienced. I mean, this guy touches you and you're done. Like he's almost the same height as Izzy, but this dude is thick and he's technical. His faints are incredible. It's just such a joy to watch the short time he's been in the UFC. So I really feel this guy should be looked at very carefully because I want to see him fight

Izzy and Alex, I really do. And lastly, yeah, like, as in, people talk about Humza, you're putting him in the pound for power top 20, which is insane. People need to look at Chidi, because this guy is legit. And lastly, Mike, we all saw what Habib said.

I tried to keep my mouth shut because I was like, I forget it. But this is twice now, Mike. He's said some absolute garbage stuff. Firstly, he talked about Humza and missing weight. And I'm like, you missed weight, you hypocrite. And then, like, now he's talking about Charles Lever. and not showing up. Like, you didn't show up against Tony.

Why are you at UFC 209? Why are you talking? It's crazy how this man, I didn't want to say anything, but this man acts so self-righteous. He acts like the spokesperson for everything to do with what's good and MMA and everything else. It's irritating. That's all I've got.

Drop the mic, Mike. Thank you, buddy. Yeah, I think a lot of people agree with you. This has been brought up a few different times about some of the things Habiba said. but and that's why in a lot of people's eyes that Islam has all the pressure on him. Like Charles has pressure too, but the pressure is mounting, and every time Habib comes out and says these things, you're just adding pressure to this man.

Like if he goes out loose to Charles Oliver, he is going to get destroyed on social media. And this is not a fun place to get destroyed. I don't think Islam cares at the end of the day, but the UFC. certainly does. The UFC certainly sees what's going on on Twitter and how people are reacting to certain things. And yeah, I think Habib is just enhancing the pressure. And who knows, maybe that's what Islam wants. Maybe that's what Islam wants. Some fighters thrive on that extra pressure being added upon them. Some fighters thrive on having that extra chip on their shoulder. And maybe that's what Habib is trying to do for his fighter. I don't know. I haven't spoken to him. So I don't know

why he's saying the things that he's saying, but he has said them. They are out in the universe for people to see, and there you have it. And I will stand by my Humzaat pound for pound ranking because, again, is he a welterweight? Is he a middleweight? Who knows? Who cares at this point? Because this is pound for pound. And I'm quite confident that Hamzaa Tchamai F can beat every welterweight in this division right now. Of course, he's got to make weight. I'm giving him a pass. I mean, I was hard.

It's just dumb that he drops the bag with the UFC just handed him the golden baton, and he just forgot it existed and went to the bathroom instead of grabbing the baton and running with it. So that stinks, but, I mean, look at the middleweight rankings right now. Look at the middleweight rankings right now. Let me pull them up real quick.

pull up the enemy fighting global rankings quickly. No, I'm just going to pull up my, I'm going to pull up like my little chart here. Like, let's just look at some of these dams. Let's look at like Hamzat and Jume Nees. While tricky, I think Hamzat wins. Hamzat destroys Jackramanson. He destroys Eric Brunson. He beat Sean Strickland.

He beats Jared Canaanier. Pereer is interesting, but I think he still wins. I think he beats Costa. and then we get to the top three, and that's where we possibly have a discussion. Robert Whitaker is a tough matchup for not just him. He's a tough matchup for pretty much everybody. But I'm not saying like Hamzaa couldn't win.

Marvin Vittoyer would actually be a really interesting fight for Hamzad because Marvin doesn't get finished by anybody. He is a freak of nature. He doesn't get hurt. He bleeds a little bit. But he just takes a beating and keeps, going. It's just nuts watching this guy fight. He might have the best chin in MMA pound for pound. If there's a pound for pound durability and chin list, Martin Vittori is in the top two or three,

easy. And then Izzy, I don't know, man, like, Izzy, I mean, from a, like, just a normal, from a usual MMA grappling standpoint, Izzy has shown that his defensive grappling is spent, is spectacular. It's very good. It's very hard to get this guy down. And if you get him down, it's very hard to keep them down. But Ahanza Shamiya that has tried to take this guy down. So that's why I'm justifying my ranking for Shemaya being a top 10 pound for pound guy because he could win, he could win titles. You see a world where he could win titles at two different divisions right now. And it's not really a big argument against it. Could he lose to Whitaker, Vittoria, out of Sanya. I would line those a little closer, but there's a chance he's favored in every

single fight. Every single fight he's in moving forward at 170, 185, he's the favorite. He's the favorite over Oosman. He's like a five to one favorite over Leon. And then we go up to 185. He's probably like a two and a half to one favorite over Vittori. It's closer with Whitaker, but he's probably the favorite there. And he's probably the favorite against Adasania. Justifies by top 10 ranking for that guy, because that's basically what. a lot of people view pound for pound as if this guy goes up a division could he hang if this guy goes down a division could he hang hamza can it's just a matter of is he both or is he just one and if so which one is he i don't know is he a welterweight is he a middleweight who cares

i mean it's just this is we're at right now so i'll justify that and chiti's the man i agree with you ahead chiti and chiquotty is is great fact, and let me just say that. The fact that that man had to go on the friggin contender series to earn a UFC spot is absolutely ridiculous. It is egregious. It is stupid. It is dumb.

All of those bad adjectives that you want to describe this as. I mean, how dare you? How dare you put this guy on the contender series? He should have been outright signed. And listen, I don't think we're going to be living in a world where Cheety and Jiguanis can be fighting for the UFC middleweight title, but I know I'm living in a world that every time Chidi and Chiquawani

is booked to fight anybody, we're going to be like, oh, sweet, this dude's fighting on this card? Awesome. But we'll see what this guy's going to be. Is he going to be a top 15 middleweight? We'll get some answers on Saturday because Gregor Rodriguez, Gregory can go.

That's a great fight. I'm really looking forward to that one. There's not a ton to look forward to on this card on Saturday, but that is definitely one thing I am looking forward to. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move.

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Jacob. Try again. Let's go to Troy. Troy, are you there? Just got to turn the mute off. Hey, can you hear me, Mike? Yep, I got you. All right. Perfect. Yeah, I just wanted to talk about how Shemayev and Covington, like, they need to fight next. because he's not going to be able to go back to 170 if he goes to 185 in my opinion.

So I think that fight, you think that fight could actually happen to MSG or would that be too soon? That's, I mean, that's probably too soon. That's probably too soon. But who knows? I mean, if you watch the M.MA hour earlier this week, his head coach Andreas Michael said that

he wants to fight again before the end of the year. So, yeah, I don't know. I think November's too soon. I think November's too soon. Do you have any more to add to that, Troy? Yeah. All right. So what about December then, the last pay-per-view?

I think you could throw that as a feature fight, co-main five-rounder, and it would answer a lot of questions. I mean, that fight, I don't know how people think about it right now. It sounds like everyone wants it. A lot of people are hating on the weight miss. I don't really, I mean, he missed it.

Yeah, it's bad, but it's only the first time that he's actually missed weight. So like Jed kind of said yesterday, if he does it again, obviously, he has to go to 85. And it will be an embarrassment if he misses again. But I think you just do, you go Covington, Shemayev right now. Costa, you know, you weigh 240 offseason. Why don't you fight Whitaker? You get through Whitaker, then you earn the star power in Shemayev later down the road. that's my opinion

Covington Shemaya would be insane it would depressor the buildup you know Colby's not going to hold back so emotional like Shamaio's definitely going to have his emotions flaring and whether it goes deep into the rounds and Shemio gets it done

or he gets it done early like he's been doing I just I can't see how that fight isn't a perfect matchup stylistically thank you sir I don't love the Whitaker Kosta fight because I think Whitaker just, I think Whitaker just outclasses Paul Ocasa. I don't think this fight, I mean, look, Paul is powerful and maybe he lands a big shot,

but I just, I just don't see a whirl where that fight is even competitive, really. It's been two guys with names, I get it. Now, the December pay-per-view is interesting because we don't have anything really official for that car just yet. There's lots of things being sort of toggled around right now. I know the France and Gano situation is interesting. Like, by the way, Francis is not fighting December 10th. Just, it's not happening. It would just be a stunning development if that is the case.

But I know there was a lot of talk about maybe John Jones fighting steep on that card for the interim title, but I've said this a million times. There's no need. There's no need to do it if France is coming back in February of March and you can resign Francis. So why even book that fight when the fight we all want is Francis versus. as John. So I think they'll hold off on that. I know there's talks about Yuri and Glover maybe running it back on that card. Nothing done. Nothing announced. It seems to be the direction, but it's not done yet. So you need fights there. It's just a matter of trying to put it together.

So I'm going to play your game. I'm going to say, we're going to live in a world right now where Hamzaa Chimayev can fight in December. And Colby Covington says, all right, dude, I'll fight, you in December. Here's what I would do. Right now, that December 3rd card is headlined by Derek Brunson versus Jackramansen. Fine fights. This is not a main event. It's not a main event. This is an apex main event, but this is not a, hey, we're taking the show on the road kind of main event. We want to sell out an arena kind of main event. This isn't doing it. This is not it. okay so living in this world where shamiyev can come back and try to make 170 before the end of the year what i would do is i would move bruns and hermanson to the pay-per-view and i would headline that card

with colby versus shemayev because in florida colby is the florida guy he's the baby face anyways let's put him in florida and you know who else loves him you know who else who else they love in florida they love hamzaa shimai if in florida Now, I don't know if they're going to love him after missing weight, but you put Colby, if you're going to put these two guys together, just do it there. Do it there. Do it there.

If you're going to put two title fights on this card, you don't need Colby versus Hamzat. It'd be a cool little addition. But just say, hey, Derek, Jack, we're going to pay you the same amount of money. We're just going to bump you a week. We'll put you on the pay-per-view main card, last pay-per-view the year. And we're going to headline this card with Colby Covington versus Hamzot-Cham-Sacham. my and by the way looking at this December 3rd card which is going to be in Orlando

at Amway Center it's going to be the last fight night card in front of people the second to last card that's selling arena tickets for the rest of the year this card is not good you get Derek Brunson Jack Hermanson

it's just not a hey we need to sell 15,000 tickets main event it just isn't Chacy Cortez Amanda Heba's good fight Mateus Nicola Mattiannell good fight Clay Guida, Scott Holtzman, cool. Eric Anders, Kyle Dawkins, cool. Marcella Rojo, Francis Marshall, cool. And then it's just like cool fights.

Natan Levy, Janaro Valdez, Michael Johnson, Mark Chucase, Darren Elkins, Jonathan Pierce, Angel Hill, Emily Decody. I mean, we got to build this baby up a little bit. And how you build it is to shift this main event back a week and then give us Colby v. Shemayev, sign me the hell up for that and then I can go to that one too

because I could just drive there it's like four hours away but that's what I would do all right Jacob do we have you lovely all right hopefully you can hear me now but yep perfect so

got two questions we're wasting time too much on it number one then the future there is a fight between Edson Boboza and Ilya now I genuinely think leitiporia is now going to stay in the top five for a long or top 10 anyway for a long-ass time.

Edson, it's on his way out. Why have the UFC made this the main event? I don't know. Now, it's not going to change, but at the same time, let's be honest with ourselves here. Only person that wins from this is Edson. Or Edd's going to get Chyuffin's bit out.

Why have they done this? Why do you think? Next question. If, and I say big if, if Charles O'oevera does beat Islam, and if he does, he's going to submit him, if he beats him, is he the greatest light weight of all time.

I mean, they got, it's either, they've got more, the same type of defensive, even though it's not champion. Or it's one more anyway. Who is the greatest lightweight? Because honestly, at this rate, you could argue, yeah, it could be, be undefeated. But what is more compelling of the story? An undefeated bloke or the bloke that never thought to be the champion?

I'm picking the guy who never thought to be the champion. But anyway, those are my questions. I won't waste your time too much. Thanks, man. It's never a waste of time. Barbosa's four is not the main event. I don't know if I misheard that. Cater Allen is the main event.

But listen, we know why this fight's happening. This is classic pro wrestling UFC booking. We're trying to build a name off of the name. And like Edson's not the biggest star in the world, but any MMA fan knows who Edson Barbos is. And they've seen the highlight real knockouts and stuff like that. So, I mean, this is just where he's at right now. Edson fought Bryce Mitchell in his last fight and got absolutely trucked.

He got 30-25 by Bryce Mitchell. And then he got knocked dead by Giga Chikaze in the fight before that. Like this is just where he is right now. He's lost five of his last seven. Now granted, these are all very good names. Justin Gage, Paul Feldar, Dan Igay. Although a lot of people thought Edson Barbosa beat Danigay. He beat Macon-Maricani.

knocked out Shane Burgos in a crazy fight and then he got knocked up by Giga and then he got trucked by Bryce Mitchell. So this is just kind of where he's at right now. And it's a win-win. Like if Edson wins, we get to be like, damn, this guy is a G and he's a vet and go Edson. And if he loses like, damn,

Iliots, Puri is real good. So, yeah, that's exactly where they booked that one. That is exactly why they booked that fight. I unfortunately, I forget your other question. Sorry, maybe Jose can help me out with that. Jose, what's up? Jose. I'm sorry, Mike.

I'm here. So I got three questions for you. And you can spend as much time as he'd like on the one that you probably know most about. So I've got a question about Jeff Neal. What are his future plans? I hear no one talk about him. I think he's important in that division, especially the way he finished Lucke. Is Gilbert a possibility maybe?

I know it would probably be the short end of the stick for Gilbert because he's wanted a big fight for a while now, but I just think it makes sense. Maybe you have some thoughts on that. And then a big one for me, because no one talks about her anymore, but I think she still has title implications if they give her the right fights and soon rather than later,

Tatiana Swares, where is she? Like I haven't heard anything about her comeback. And then last one, it's a Bellator question. AJ McKee, if he comes back, you know, sparks, I forget the guy's name, I think it's Spike Carlisle, if he sparks him and then maybe gets the rematch and wins, when do you think he can maybe make it to the UFC? Because I still think he has star potential written all over him. And yeah, I hope you have a great day, Mike. Thanks for having me on. Thanks, man.

What do I want to answer? I'll answer one, and I want to go to Zeke. I'll go at the agent McKee question because it's a little different. I'm not really sure what his contract status looks like. He's not as open with it as he was before the rematch with Patricia Pitbull that he lost. And by the way, I still feel like he lost that fight. It was close. He feels like he was robbed.

He definitely wasn't robbed. But he's also said like he didn't take it all that seriously. And he didn't go out and try to finish the fight like he did the first time. Didn't have the same motivation. And I think this loss is actually a really. really good thing for him. I think it's, it put him down, but it also built him back up. And we'll see how he responds against a guy like Spike Carlisle, who I think is actually the perfect opponent here, because Spike don't, don't F around. He's going to go in there and try to decapitate this man.

He's a crazy fighter. He puts on a ridiculous pace. He's all over the place. And he's winning. He's winning. And he's like probably jumping up and down at this opportunity. So AJ gets to fight literally in his hometown. He gets to fight in Long Beach. It's going to have all his people there. He's going to go out there and do the damn thing. Probably going to win. And then it'll be interesting to see what he does.

Maybe they go back and they do the rematch with the Tritio. Or, I mean, maybe he goes and fights Patrici if he beats him by Narmagamagamade Up. But let's be clear, I'm very confident who his Nirmagamatov is going to be the lightweight champion. I think Usman is, Usman is no joke. He's the real, real. And I think he's going to beat Patrick, Patrickian win the title.

So then they just got options. Do you make the cut back to 45 in fight Patricio if he beats Adam Borch? Interesting fight. Or do you go up and challenge for the lightweight title? Because if he beats Spike Carlisle, his next fight will be a title fight. It's just a matter of where he wants to go. As far as the UFC thing goes, the loss really hurt him honestly it it hurt him him going out there and losing a decision

his stock as far as free agency it's still high but it probably went from oh man we have to get this guy to like eh we can probably still get him but now we don't have to pay as much for it and i'll just i'll i'll i'll say this for i go to zeke here's what i'll say Bellator screwed this whole thing up. And I feel like I say this a lot with Belator. And by the way, I like Belator. I think they have a good roster.

Their fighters are great. I love the people who work for Belator. I love their PR team. I think they're fantastic. They're wonderful people. And covering a Belator event live is a pleasure. It is a joy because they get it. They understand.

But the problem is, it is the powers that be who drop the ball all the time. And it's not just because no one knows where to find the friggin product or that nobody knows that cards are happening. It's that when you have these opportunities to pounce, you don't do it. A.J. McKee's stock, after he beat Patricia Pitbull and won the friggin title and won the Grand Prix and got that ovation and got that pop walking out, That dude should have been on every television show on the planet.

I should have been waking up watching Good Morning America with A.J. McKee on it. I should have been watching Sports Center with A.J. McKee on it. I should have been watching any television show friggin ridiculousness with that guy watching prank videos. AJ McKee should have been on the damn coach with that guy. And he wasn't. we did not see a j mckee again until he was a special guest commentator for jake paul versus tyrant woodley that dude should have been everywhere plastered everywhere on every show he should have been on on all the big radio stations doing all those big shows agent mckee should have been in the

freaking breakfast club that dude should have been everywhere and he wasn't he wasn't he wasn't and that affected his star power too because guess what most fans that like the sport, there's a good chunk of them who are new, and they're new because of the UFC. And there's a big chunk of those new fans who have no idea who this guy is. They don't know who A.J. McKee is.

They hear his name. I didn't interview with A.J. McKee. Like the day they announced he was going up to lightweight. You don't make people commented and said, who the hell is A.J. McKee? And this is not like a Connabreger joking around at Jeremy Stevens type thing. This is a legit question.

They didn't know who this guy was. Why are you interviewing this guy? I don't even know who he is. That is Bellator's fault. Bellator screwed the pooch on this thing. AJ McKee should be a star. And not a Bellator star. He should be an MMA star.

And they dropped the ball. And by the time the rematch came around, like 60% of the buzz he had was gone. It was gone. I mean, people still are like, cool, they're fighting, but it did not have. anywhere near the buzz the first one had.

Bellator built that fight up great. They had an entire Grand Prix to build it up, and they were smart about it. They set it all up so those two guys could fight at the end. But then after he won the bell, it was just like, all right, we're going to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Let's focus on that card. Like, you've got to be better. You've got to be better at making these guys stars. You have to. The stars that are there, are stars that were stars before they went there in the first place. Johnny Eblen just had like an incredible win over Gagar Busassi. What was the last time you heard from Johnny Eblen?

Where has he been? He's not doing anything. He was on the M.MA hour. But that was like two days after he won the title. But where has he been since? Come on. We got to be better with this. We got to be better at this.

Zeke. What's up, my man? My man, Mike, how are you? Good. Free for all Friday. It's going to be much shorter than yesterday. Get the shot clock out. Thank you for having me on this immaculate social media network, you know, promotion.

First things first. We got a matchup yesterday. Mozart Evojev against Bryce Mitchell. I think we're going to have an insane grappling contest. Do you think that Bryce Mitchell is going to struggle to get Mozart down to the mat? I think he is going to have just string together, you know, take down. I think he's going to, I don't think he'll be able to keep him down there, but I think he's definitely going to, you know, have to keep that cardio up, keep pushing forward on Mosvar and not let Mosvar get his back because I think both of them are going to have, you know, insane work on the mat. Secondly, I'm a huge Cody Garbrant guy.

Definitely been watching him, you know, throughout the promotion with his relationship with Mark actually dropped off from the Mark Henry training camp most recently. What do you think coming up for him next? We lost Ronnie Yaya, obviously, I think it was November, December. I'm hearing Adrian Yanez whispers, but again, I'm not 100% sure. I don't like to, you know, jump on the first thing I hear because Twitter, you're here a thousand names with all these fights. And yeah, thank you for having me. Let's have the hell of the weekend and enjoy these fights.

Thank you, Mike. Thanks, man. Battle of Loy of Mitchell fight is great. It's just a great fight. Will he have struggles getting a Vloy of down? Yeah, probably early, but cardio is not an issue for Rice Mitchell. That dude can just go and go and go. but it'll be interesting to see

if Loyaev against a guy pushes a pace like that because of Lov is the way better striker here. There's no ifs, or buts about it. Bryce Mitchell could use that as a chip on his shoulder because he's going to hear that quite a bit. I'm sure he's fine with that. He heard the same thing going to the Edzibarbosa fight,

and guess what? He actually outstruck Edzibarboza in that fight. So, yeah, maybe that's a chip that he needs. It's a great fight. I mean, it's sensational. This is the featherweight version of Saruki on Gamron, in my opinion. It's exactly what it is.

And it should be the main event. It should be the main event. So, and I hope it is. Five rounds is way more interesting to three in a fight like this. Especially the guy like Bryce, who just doesn't slow down at all. So it should be an event. And I hope it is.

But I love the fight. I like the fight a lot. As far as Cody goes, I mean, there's no real whispers about the Adrianianas thing. I just like that idea. I think it makes sense. Adrian wants a big fight. A lot of people are saying, and again,

a lot of people are reporting that he's fighting Rob Fonton that card. That's just not true. He's not fighting Rob Fon on any card anytime soon because Rob's not fighting anytime soon. So any reports or whispers you hear about that are just not true. But now that Cody doesn't have a fight,

we've already tried this, yeah-ya fight twice. Just give him Adrian. Do it at MSG. Put it on that card. That's a big deal. That's a very big deal. So I like that one.

If you want to give Yana as a guy with the name, to me, Garbrandt's probably a bigger name than Rob Font. Not as good of a fighter right now, but Cody Garbrand was the freaking champion in the world. You'd probably gain more from beating Cody Garbrand, just from what you're trying to do with the guy, than you would get beating Rob Fon. And Adrian has a good chance to beat Cody Garbrand, in my opinion.

He could lose that fight. It's a risk. It's a step up in competition. but it's a fight he can win. I don't know if he could beat Rob Font right now. But I think he could beat Cody Garbred. And he would get the same amount of elevation beating Cody than he would rob.

If not more. So, yeah, I like that fight. Nothing being discussed as far as I know about it because we just found out Yaya is out of the October 1st fight. So it's up to Cody. And if Cody wants to wait for Yaya, that's fine. he can certainly do that but if he just wants to get in there he's like damn it like just give me something cool go fight a junior yacht as an ems shi that's pretty damn cool let's go

to john we'll take three more john hello hey how you doing good yeah so i just wanted to follow up before so is there any way you could interview covington because i know you guys have gotten along before to get that i mean you blew my mind out with the december 3rd third card. Like, that's perfect for me, too. I'm close to Orlando. So that would be amazing. And it seems like you're the only one that's advocating for this. So, like, I know you have talked to Colby before. That would be amazing if you could, like, get an interview with them because I haven't heard from him in forever. And I just don't want this fight to get pushed back so far, because that's kind of how Colby usually works. And I like Colby. I do. But, you know, this fight

needs to happen. Thank you, sir. Trust me, I would love to interview Colby. That would be great. I haven't talked to him in a while. I haven't talked to him since after the

after he beat Mazadol. That interview's up on MMA fighting. It's like maybe two weeks after, a little less than two weeks after. Because it's very tough to get Colby like right after a fight because he wants to just kind of like unwind from it.

So he doesn't do any interviews. It usually takes like a week or two off and then he'll do interviews. He only really does interviews with, like in the MMA space with three people. Me, the submission radio guys, and James Lynch.

That's it. That's it. Now, fight weeks difference because you're obligated to talk to certain members of the media. That's why you'll see Kevin Ioli or

you'll see Bronstetter, Brett. You'll see guys who are like partners, essentially. with the UFC and they'll get those types of interviews. But if you go to Colby Direct, he's only doing interviews like with MMA media with three people or three different entities.

Wherever James is on, because James works for 5,000 people. James is the friggin man, by the way. Submission radio guys who are also great and me. And as you can see, no one's talking to him right now. So I'd love that. I'd love to talk to him. and I would talk to him, I would talk to him just off the record too. I've known Colby for a long time.

No one was interviewing Colby what I was interviewing Colby. He was just a dude that was winning fights, trying to get a bigger name, couldn't get it, wasn't doing a ton of interviews, but I interviewed him because I like Colby. I know the schicks a little crazy, but I've known Colby before, stick. That's why we have a good relationship. We've had our ups and downs, just like I've had with

other people. But we always got through it. We always kept going. And that's it. So I've reached out to him a few times since everything happens with Mazad, or allegedly with Mazadol. And I think out of like 12 attempts to get in touch to them, I think he's responded maybe one time. but I get it. I get it. Some of it's stuff he can talk about. Some of it's stuff he probably can't talk about. And there you go.

But listen, he knows that if he wants to talk, all I used to do is message me and I will, for the most part, drop everything I'm doing and I will talk to him. Now, if I'm hanging out with the family, it's a little different, but if I'm doing something, something else that I usually do, I will just stop what I'm doing and go. So I'd love to do it. Don't know when it's going to happen, but we'd love to do it.

All right, the AM is going to take us home. Hello, the AM. Hey, good morning, Mike. Good morning. There's a lot of fight announcements. I was going to ask you about Bruce Mitchell and Mofsar, but somebody already did. There's also an announcement for the announced the fight between cater or Qatar

versus what is name Arnold Allen for October 29th what do you think about that one I'm sure it will be a banger I have also something to say about the Habib situation I don't know why he gets so much

backlash whenever he says something unlike the majority of the fighters we see fighters talking shit about other fighters wives and and families. But still, they are cool.

Everybody considers Chao Chai Olson to be the gangstep for talking that shit. But Habib said something about Hamzad for when he missed weight. He was not talking about the missing weight in itself.

He was talking about the behavior. He was talking to a Muslim population, a Muslim event, in a Muslim event, and he was talking about sitting an example to those kids. He was criticizing Hamza for giving the finger, using all the cast words and all that. And every time Habib says something, a lot of people come out. Why did he say that?

Why would he criticize that? Why did he say this about Charles? He said what he said about Charles because it's a fight game. They are building up for the fight. That's why he's doing it. Can you please? I might be a diehard fan. Maybe I don't see it.

The way other people see it. Will you please tell me if there's a difference between when Habib says something and other fighters say the same thing or worse? And thank you and have a good day. Thanks, man. I mean, you make an interesting point. You definitely make an interesting point. Habib's just, I mean, the difference is just Habib's a star and more people hear it when he says it.

That's all. And I think some of it rubs me the wrong way. And look, I've talked about this a lot with certain fighters and things like that. I just talked to Tanner Bozer about this the other day. And I'm writing up an article transcribing everything he said because that dude is getting destroyed for saying something that got taken wildly out of context. So, but the problem with Habib is not only do we do we live in a space where sometimes things get taken out of context. When you're a star like Habib, more people see it and more people play the telephone game

where it becomes, oh, he's shitting on this guy, he's shitting on this guy, shit on this guy, shit on this guy. First of all, one thing that's important to note that when you are doing it, when you hear an interview with a fighter, you are only, for the most part, you are only answering the questions you are asked. So to bring up the Tanner Bozer situation,

Tanner Bozer did an interview with JHK of the All-Star, who I like a lot. JHK is a good dude, hard worker, like the guy. He's talking to Tanner Bozer about certain elements that fighters need to be successful. So Tanner was asked about the importance of discipline and all these things. And Tanner's running down like how different skill sets, different integrations of a fighter can help you be successful, like having heart and all the stuff. Then he has asked specifically about mental coaches in MMA. He's asked about mental coaches in particular.

And I will say that I've talked to multiple fighters over the years who have found and have used mental coaches. Now, here's the difference, though. Mental coaches are not therapists. They're not psychologists. They are sports-specific. specific coaches. And so it's not like, so, and what Tanner said was, I think anybody, any fighter uses a mental

coach is weak. And in this space oftentimes, that comment turns into, oh, well, Tanner thinks anybody with the mental health issue is weak. Tanner says that anybody who sees a therapist is weak. That's not what he said. That's not what he was asked about. He was asked about fighters who use mental coaches. And he also, when I spoke, because the problem with that interview was,

and again, I'm not trying to be a hater or anything. But when a fighter says something like that, and this is why it's so important to listen and follow up. And Ariel talks about it all the time. Because when you say something like that, and then you're going to use that as a headline or a social media, quote or something like that, you have to follow up on that. You have to. You have to ask a follow-up question. Wait, why do you think that? Why do you feel that way? You have to clarify,

because then when you put up like a graphic, it's just like, oh, and you kind of buried them a little bit. But in reality, it turns into something totally different. And that's what happens in this space sometimes. It's what happens. So Habib might just have been. asked a question, he responded, and it turns into something else. So I get what you're saying. But Habib's just a star, and what he says oftentimes travels further. Just like if you ask Mazadol about it, what Mazda, because Tanner talked about that, too, what Mazadal has to say about Hamzaat Shamaa of missing weight, and Habib has to say about

Hamzaat Shamaa misses weight is going to mean a lot, it's going to carry a lot more weight than what Tanner Bozer says. Tanner responded, he had a fire response to it. but not a lot of people know who Tanner Bozer is. But they all know who Basidol is. They all know who Al-Bib is. And that's why there's more backlash than anything because it just reaches more eyeballs

and reaches more ears, more than anything. So I get where you're coming from. I mean, you're not wrong. Actually, we'll take one more. We'll take Willie Boy. And then I got to go. Willie Boy. How am I?

What are you doing? Good. Well, what it was, it was basically about Tony. I don't know if you've covered this because I've just jumped home, but if it did an intense debate all week with folk

telling me that Tony's done, he's finished for his own safety. He needs to get out just now. But what they did feel to understand was up to 170, he had no preparation for that fight, but their argument was his previous fights.

But basically, My argument is he still belongs here. It can still continue. And basically, what do you think? About Tony? Tony retiring. Do you think he still got it?

Or do you think it's detrimental to itself if they continues? All right. Thank you, sir. Yeah, we talked with, these are always tough questions because you never want to, like, especially in my position, like, who the fuck am I, like, to tell Tony Ferguson that you should retire? But at the same token, like, as someone who's followed the sport, as someone who admires Tony Ferguson,

I will say this. If Tony Ferguson decided tomorrow that he's going to hold a press conference at one of his gyms and announces retirement, it wouldn't break my heart. It wouldn't break my heart. I would celebrate his career like no other. That's it. Now, if he wants to keep going, I'm not opposed to it.

But I also don't want to see him. Like, if I, I see a frigging poster with Tony Ferguson fighting Shafcott Rachmanoff, my head is going to explode. Or him fighting a Jeff Neal. That was the other question that I missed. What's next for Jeff Neal? I'll get to that in the minute.

Like, that would kill me. I don't want to see that shit. If Tony Ferguson's going to fight, we need to put him on the Matt Brown Carlos Condit tour, okay? You fight Matt Brown. You fight Robbie Lawler. you fight Joe Lozahn. You fight those guys.

You don't fight any of these killers coming up the ranks. You're not fighting Michelle Paheta. You're not fighting Kevin Holland. You're not fighting those guys. You're not fighting the leech. No. If he gets the Conner fight, that's fine. Get that bag, son.

Go get that bag. And I think it's a fight. If Tony doesn't get clipped, he could probably win, honestly. The fight gets extended. He's got a chance. But nothing else. Nothing else. So if he wants to keep going and those are the fights that he's going to take,

I'm cool with that. But I don't, I think it's fair to say. And I think we're all in agreement that the Tony Ferguson road to a UFC undisputed title, that road is closed. And that's okay. He's had a great career. He's won an intern title.

He's had some big. moments. The dude's a star. People go crazy for him all the time, even still, even with the five straight losses. Whatever he wants to do is cool with me, but if he's going to keep going, just please, for my eyes sake, just fight the dudes you should be fighting. No leeches, no D-rods, no Hollins, no Rachmanovs, no Jeff Neals, yes to Matt Brown, yes to Lozon, those are the fights. And that's cool with me. But if he says I'm done, I've done everything I need to do, that's fine too.

It wouldn't break my heart. But it is breaking my heart that I have to say goodbye because I have to. We get things going on. Preview show, 3 p.m. Easter, M.AFighting.com YouTube page for UFC Vegas 60. I believe my best friend will be in attendance, Mr. A.K. Lee. Well, people's pre-fight show 3.30 Eastern tomorrow. So get ready for that. To get you ready for UFC, Vegas 60,

well, post-fight show, and then AK and I are going to do on to the next one into the weekend. And then I'm taking some time off, my friends. I will be here for this show and for BTL, but that's it. I'm going to be taking some time off next week. A little breather, relax a little bit. And, but I'll still be here. I'll still be here because you're the best.

But until then, everybody, have a great rest of the day. Have a great weekend. We'll see you later on this afternoon for the preview show. And have a heck of a morning, you crazy animals.